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June 7, 2010

G59: Red Sox 4, Spiders 1

Dice: 8-4-0-2-5, 112. Matsuzaka has pitched eight shutout innings in two of his last four starts (1.98 ERA in 27.1 IP).

Marco Scutaro: three doubles (ties career high; also June 5, 2009), two runs scored, walk. Looking at the win probability values, the biggest hit of the game was Scutaro's double to start the game. He had three of the five top plays in WPA.

The Red Sox are now in third place, 4 GB Tampa Bay and 1.5 GB New York.

The Spiders are 12th (out of 14 teams) in the AL in runs scored (222); the Red Sox and Yankees are tied for first, with 314*. When Cleveland has allowed more than four runs in a game this season, they are 1-29 (Boston is 10-17).

* In fact, among all MLB teams, the Red Sox are first in OPS (.851) and second in OBP (.351), slugging (.464, .006 behind Toronto), home runs (79) and doubles (136, 1 behind Toronto).

Cleveland is hitting .239/.308/.365 over its last 20 games, and is 8th in team OBP and 12th in slugging in the AL. Austin Kearns (.309/.386/.475) and Shin-Soo Choo (.283/.382/.458) are their top hitters and Russell Branyan leads the team with a .482 SLG. Boston has four players slugging over .500.

The Spiders' pitching staff has the worst ERA in the AL (4.84) and worst WHIP (1.559); those numbers rank them 27th and 29th, respectively, among the 30 MLB teams. Carmona (3.53 ERA) and Mitch Talbot (3.54) are their best starters. The Red Sox will face Talbot on Thursday.

Boston is tied for third place with Toronto, 4.5 GB the Rays. The rest of the AL East is off today.

1908 - The Tigers turn a triple play against the Red Sox for the second day in a row.

1911 - Heinie Zimmerman and Al Kaiser of the Cubs both steal home in the seventh inning against the Dodgers.

1927 - Browns starter Milt Gaston is pulled in the third inning and on his way back to the dugout, he leaps into the stands to punch a heckler.

1938 - At Fenway Park, Cleveland pitcher Johnny Allen is told by the umpire to cut off part of his dangling shirt sleeve so the batters will not be distracted. Allen refuses and walks off the mound.

2000 - Blue Jays pitcher Clayton Andrews hits an apparent single to right field for his first major league hit, but Atlanta's Brian Jordan is playing shallow, and Jordan throws Andrews out at first base. Jordan will throw out a total of three runners at first base during the season.

2007 - Curt Schilling loses a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth when Oakland's Shannon Stewart singles.

Why, oh why, is there so much lack of balance in the divisions? The three teams with the most wins---all in OUR division....just not fair. Maybe they should realign the divisions since geography seems rather irrelevant in this day and age. You can get from Boston to Atlanta or Cleveland or Chicago as easily as you can get to Tampa. Maybe they should run the divisions across the country instead of vertically.

I know it will never happen, but it stinks that our chances at a wildcard are severely hampered by the fact that we are in the same division as the Yankees and Rays. Thank goodness for Baltimore.

Carmona was amazing his 2nd season. 2007 if I remember and a close third behind Extra Cheese and Beckett for the Cy Young. But to me, ERA is the measure of a pitcher's performance. It's not perfect, but it's what I look at first. I guess W-L is still the first go-to for most announcers and such. Perhaps they know better, but don't think the audience does, and don't think it's their job to teach it.